Travel over miles
by ScarecrowDT
Summary: After the war between the gokages and the Akatsuki ended, life goes back to normal. But what happened in between? Do people stay the same after experience on the battlefield? Some do, some don't. Romance/humor/drama eventually KakaSaku -Hiatus-
1. 1  Some things never change

Travel over miles

Chapter 1: Some things (never) change

(A/N: CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T READ THE MANGA! I WARNED YOU!)

'You're late.'

'Old habits die hard, right sensei? '

'Who says I was trying to get rid of them?'

'So you admit you're always late on purpose?'

'I always have a purpose for being late, whether you believe my purpose is up to you.'

'So…what's your purpose today?'

'My purpose today was to help my plant to survive during these hot days before I would let him suffer from dehydration referring to my two weeks of absence'

'Sensei, Mr. Ukki doesn't survive…wait, what? Two weeks of absence?'

'Does this mean we already have a mission together?'

'Sorry guys, I know this was supposed to be our first day as a team after two years but an S-rank mission came up and they're a little short on jounin.'

Two 19 year old shinobi's and their 32 year old sensei were standing at the gates of their beloved home town. Finally reunited after the last great ninja war. The war between the gokages and the Akatsuki had splitted team Kakashi up. Naruto going his own way to control the magnificent powers of the kyuubi, Sakura as one of the head medics on the field, and Kakashi as a general of the third division.

The war had lasted much longer than predicted, a little over 2 years. Akatsuki had withdrawn several times to increase their numbers with the dead bodies of their enemies' friends. It not only had been psychically exhausting but also mentally.

There was a silence between the shinobi as they recalled memories of friends who had passed away during the war. The reason why they were short on jounins. But everyone knew they hadn't die in vain, they would be remembered as heroes of the village. And as hard as it seems, life went on. Especially for shinobi. Akatsuki might be gone, but that didn't mean they could just wait on their lazy bums until the end of days. Busy, busy, busy. That's life.

'Wait, do you mean we just waited 4 hours for someone who just came by to say he's leaving for another two weeks before we can actually be a team again?', Naruto said pointing an accusing finger to his sensei.

'Hahaha…wari wari,' Kakashi said, Scratching the back of his neck, 'I do have a few minutes to spare, how about we grab some lunch instead?'

'RAMEN!' Naruto's eyes beamed with enthusiasm. He needed to catch up 2 years of ramen.

Naruto sprinted ahead to his long lost love, while Kakashi and Sakura walked at a relaxed pace through the city, enjoying the peace.

'I guess you still don't treat us, right?', Sakura glanced over to her sensei.

'Of course not', he gave her his famous happy-eye crease, 'My wallet isn't that big I can afford your lunches, _especially_ Naruto's'

'Yeah, sure', Sakura said sarcastically, but her eyes gave him a knowing smile. The lie was clear if you think about it:

_The guy is single, has the smallest apartment in town, he's in the top 5 best ninja's in our city and has one of the best paychecks of all, he ALWAYS lets other people pay and doesn't have to pay for a hospital insurance. First off, ninja's get that for free, and secondly he's NEVER in the hospital. So that leaves him with a plant, his icha-icha volumes, his electricity and water bills (but he's half of the time away on a mission, AND he's a guy so that won't be very much payment either),and his clothing (he always wears the same outfit, probably his closet is full with these, not that he has to pay for them, it's a standard job outfit, ninja's get them for free). He probably doesn't need to buy batteries for his alarm-clock, he's never on time anyway. Didn't he also have a legacy from the Hatake clan? He did buy presents for their birthday, but doesn't have that many friends… _

_In other words, Hatake Kakashi's was a glutton, or Jiraiya had raised icha icha to a priceless sum of money, or Hatake Kakashi was just a very very rich man._

'Maybe you should make that clear to Naruto before he starts ordering everything on the menu, and no way in hell we're gonna pay for you this time.' Sakura replied afte realizing just how much the guy possessed.

'Neh, relax, my own lunch I can afford.' he replied dryly.

'Are you sure?' Sakura asked sarcastically.

Once arrived at Ichiraku's, Naruto had already ordered a double portion of his favorite dish, miso ramen with extra chashu. Sakura ordered the same and Kakashi ordered his own favorite dish, miso ramen with egg plant.

While waiting on their dinner, Naruto spoke happily about his improved skills,

'Next time we're training, sensei, I'm gonna beat your ass!'

'Sure, do try', Kakashi spoke confident, but he was no fool. Naruto had become stronger than anyone in this village, but he still lacked a bit on the brains department. Kakashi just wanted to let him know that even if he had improved his skills, there was no way he was being afraid of the kyuubi-container.

Kakashi couldn't see the look on Naruto's face as a bowl of ramen appeared in front of him, blocking his view.

Just as he was about to turn around to pull his mask down, he noticed four eyes gluing on him. 'What?' he asked suspiciously.

'Aw, come on sensei!' It has been 2 years!, you can't be serious about still hiding your face' We're all adults here, we don't care about your looks!' Naruto complained while slurping his own ramen inside.

'I doubt the adult part, Naruto….' Kakashi replied.

'Naruto's right sensei, why don't you just show it?, we're not going to laugh at you or anything' Sakura glanced at him.

Kakashi's eye widened in shock, but he regained his relaxed pose in less than a second. He really didn't know where they got the idea that he had something to hide, but he guessed he actually didn't want to know it.

'Maybe I'm just hiding my face because you can't handle my good looks'

'Yeah, right, like we believe that… but we'll never know if you don't show it to us' Sakura grinned, trying to bait him.

'Nice bribery Sakura but that won't work on me, but maybe it will work for that boy over there' Kakashi pointing his finger at the shop across the street. Sakura turned around, Naruto followed to see who his sensei had meant.

'Hey sensei, who do you…' Sakura quit mid sentence when her face turned around just to see that they just had been fooled.

Kakashi pulled a very happy-eye crease at them while the bowl that stood on the table was completely empty.

'Well, thanks for the lunch guys, but I do really need to go now, see you in two weeks!' Kakashi quickly raised from his seat and before his students could say anything, he disappeared in a breeze of leaves.

'What the…?', Oh no! He just didn't do that!' Sakura snarled annoyed.

'What is it?' Naruto asked, already back to his newly ordered third bowl of miso-ramen

'He just footed the bill!'

'Aww, no way! Baka sensei, he just keeps doing that!, we've paid already so many times for him, I think he could buy us a vacation for the money he robbed us.' Naruto whined.

Sakura grabbed her wallet to pay for hers and Kakashi's meal, Naruto probably was going to be broke by his own bill, and no way in hell she was going to pay for him too.

'Neh, Sakura-chan, now sensei is gone for two weeks, what should we do?'

'I think I'm going to ask Tsunade if I could work some extra shifts at the hospital, I could use the extra money', Sakura spoke seriously while checking her wallet.

'Awww, Can we at least do something together today?, training or something like that?', it's so boring on my own.' Naruto pleaded.

'Hey Naruto, Sakura!' a voice was heard across the road. Sakura and Naruto turned their heads to find an out of breath Genma.

'Have you guys seen Kakashi today?'

'Uhh, yeah he just had lunch with us, he poofed away a minute ago'

'Argh!, Genma growled 'Stupid man!, our mission supposed to have began nearly 3 hours ago', and with that last sentence he ran back in the direction of the gate. Where probably now their teamleader already was waiting for the poor senbon guy.

'Well, that explains the quick leave, Kakashi probably already knew he was coming' Sakura deadpanned, as they watched Genma run back to the gates.

'About the training, I'll first ask Tsunade about the extra shifts, then I'll meet you at the training grounds, ok?'

'Sounds fine to me', Naruto smiled ,'See you later then'

'Bye!' Sakura shouted as she made her way to the hokage building.

* * *

He really had planned on treating them this time, too bad faith kicked in. On the other hand he couldn't really feel bad at letting them pay. Sakura should have listened, he never told he was going to pay for his own lunch, he said he could afford it, and in the mind of Kakashi those were two different meanings. But he didn't got the chance to pay. When he was distracting Naruto and Sakura to quietly eat his meal, he overheard the conversation of two older women across the street:

'Youth, these days!, I just came back from the barber when this young guy just bumped into me!' one of them nagged. 'He just turned around, excused himself and grumbled something like: stupid copy-cat, while he still had that ridiculous straw in his mouth. No decency at all!

'Copy-cat? Is that a new term of abuse? I've never heard that one….

And that was all that Kakashi needed to hear. Within a second he had said bye to Naruto and Sakura and he was already on his way to the hokage building, where he had supposed to meet his team a small 3 hours ago. He had already been two and a half hours late when he met Naruto and Sakura, he presumed it wouldn't really matter to come another hour late or so.

'Senpai! You're awfully late today!, Shizune complained to the copy-nin who came walking towards them on a way to slow pace for someone who was 3 hours late.

'Well, I'm not the only I see, where's Genma?' Kakashi asked innocently. Glancing at his team as if he really had no clue where he could be. 'He really should be here by now….we really need to leave' Kakashi sighed as he rubbed his finger over his chin.

'..Hypocrite..' Shizune growled.

'What was that?' Kakashi asked suspiciously. But before his answer could be given, the brown haired jounin came running over and yelled: 'HATAKE!'

'Also good morning to you, Genma, or good afternoon, what you prefer.' Kakashi gave him his famous happy eye crease.

'Well you!... Genma replied but he was interrupted by Kakashi.

'Let's stop about this matter, we've already lost enough time' With his voice sounding awfully serious. Genma snorted loud at his reply but dropped the matter. He could have seen it coming. Some people never change.

'So who's got the objectives report?' Kakashi asked, looking directly at his team members. One of them probably already got it from Tsunade, they wouldn't wait for that, when they already had supposed to leave 3 hours ago. You only do that when you've a dead wish.

'I've got it here, senpai' Yamato, still a very chivalrous guy, gave the mission objectives to Kakashi.

The copy-nin glanced at the papers, 'Ok, two S-rank assassinations. Should take about a week to get to the location considering we need to go through desert terrain. Shizune, do you have the right supplies with you for that type of terrain? If one of us gets hurt I want to return here as soon as possible.'

To be honest, Kakashi didn't feel like going on an S-rank mission at all. He had just been a general for two years and now that he was back into his village they had already signed him up for a bunch of new S-rank missions. Of course that was the life of a ninja, and Kakashi didn't complain about that.

He just wished he could go on some easier missions with his own team, and a bit relaxing while reading his Icha Icha, which he hadn't read in a long, long time.

'I've got everything set' Shizune replied.

'Okay, well then, let's go!'

And with the small sound of quick footsteps the team disappeared into the streets of Konoha to travel through the dust of sand back to where they were always heading for, success or failure. That's the life of a shinobi.

* * *

'Man, Sakura, you've gotten strong like hell' Naruto whined as Sakura hit him with a fierce blow to the stomach.

'Well, you couldn't really expect me to go easy on you, right?' Sakura grinned at him.

They had been training for a couple hours now, at first it was just relaxing pace, nothing really serious. But after Sakura had made a small comment about how easy it was to hit Naruto, he had to show his best side, which was now heading towards a very serious battle.

'Hey!, that ain't fair! you used chakra in your punches!'

'Well, I said I didn't want to go easy on you'

Sakura gave him another blow to his shoulder with her left hand, already raising her right to hit him in the stomach .But she didn't see Naruto's feet coming up to hit her in her stomach instead.

'Gotcha!' Naruto shouted when Sakura landed a few meters away from him on her feet.

'Hmpf, just luck!'

She already was back into fighting-mode as Naruto stared daring at her.

'NARUTO NIIIII-CHANNNNN!' Sakura could see a brown haired kid came running towards them.

'Huh?' Konohamaru?' Naruto turned around.

'Finally found ya!' Eyes beaming at Naruto if it was that the most beautiful thing in the world had just happened to him. 'Hi Sakura' He smiled as he waved over to her.

'I did it!'

'Fantastic!, well show it to me, don't keep it for yourself!' Naruto was also beaming as he watched Konohamaru taking a few steps back. Sakura still didn't have a clue about what was going on.

I just added some extra length because my height is still too short,

_What the heck are they talking about? _Sakura wondered as she watched the two teens being a little too enthusiastic. They were acting like toddlers who were waiting in the queue to get themselves a lovely ice cream.

A little less cotton,

_Cotton? _Were they talking about making sweaters or something like that? At this moment Sakura had the most peculiar look on her face.

And different colours!

_Okay… when did they start a sewing club?_

And last but not least, I removed the lipstick!

'You did what?' Naruto blurted.

'I went to Jiraiya for some extra tips on how to improve the jutsu, and he claimed that most men prefer women with their natural beauty, so I decided to erase all the make-up. But her eyes fell away because of her hair locks, so I kept that and only erased the lipstick…. '

While Konohamaru was happily chatting with Naruto, on the other side of the field a pink haired kunoichi was starting to lose her temper.

_It had been so obvious, height, cotton, colours and lipstick. Of course they had not been talking about a sewing club. That they still use that after 2 years! Unbelievable!_

'Sexy no jutsu!' Sakura watched as Konohamaru transformed into for a guy probably a very beautiful lady. She herself was not the lady-type so she didn't prefer this behavior of the boys. Didn't prefer, didn't allow was more the right word. Because as soon as Konohamaru transformed, Sakura made her way to him.

Ofcourse Konohamaru realized too late for what reason the medic was coming over. Before he could even ask the perfect face of the girl was smashed into pieces and Konohamaru was backed into the three.

'Sakura-chan!, that hurt!' Konohamaru whined as he was rubbing his cheek which was bleeding.

'You earn it, I can't believe you still use that jutsu!'

'What's so wrong about it, Sakura-chan, It's only to distract enemies, and we're just improving it!'

'Only to distract enemies is fine, but the improving seems to happen a bit too often in my ears.'

'Well, we just like working on it….'

'Yeah, that's the problem. It's just plain perverted jutsu only to be used on perverted people.'

'No I t in't, if yu sa y that,.. yo u say that eve ryo n is a pervert!' Konohamaru tried to speak, but failed.

'Why?, it's not that I'll get distracted by your lady'

'No, of course not, we know that!, but we always have a male version to use on you, we just don't work on that because that would make us…' Naruto didn't need to finish the sentence. 'and we're not' he added.

'A male version?, yeah sure! Like that will work. It has to be a unbelievable handsome male if he wants to get a kunoichi distracted.' 'We, unlike you guys, don't get distracted by simply just a body, that's not what we seek in a guy, we need more'

'All high and mighty, we also don't only seek that in girls! It's just a nice extra on which we respond.' Naruto replied dryly. 'yerah!' or something like that was heard from Konohamaru.

'Oh you shut up! Sakura shouted to the boy, 'you're just a brat of 15, what do you know about it?'

'Hmpf! .thn u clearly! Konohamaru shouted, still in pain.

'Argh!' Baka's!' Sakura was agitated by their behavior because she knew they were right. Male may show it more, but female were also able to get distracted by a nice body. She just was too stubborn to admit it.

'Co…uld. u .mybe…..now…..eal me?'

'What do you think?' Sakura responded careless.

'Yes…?'

'Well then you thought wrong!' Sakura grinned, turned around and walked away. Konohamaru wasn't a crybaby, he didn't need her. Besides, she needed to get to the hospital. Tsunade had told her that she could work extra during night shifts, it was a bit more relaxed than by day, and she got paid more. It was now around 7, and she needed to start at 9. First she wanted to make some dinner and a shower, before Naruto dragged her again to the ramen stand. And how much she liked it to go out for dinner, ramen wasn't her favorite meal.

* * *

First chappy done :)

Next one I already started, but i've got no idea when i will upload it. I've got a busy life.

Reviews are nice :) :) :)

Thanks for reading!


	2. 2 The silent sound of a scream

Travel over miles

Chapter 2: The silent sound of a scream

* * *

'Can't get your sleep?' Shizune asked the slightly tired looking nin that was getting out of his sleeping-bag.

'Nah, I'll take over your watch if you don't mind' he replied weary, not in the way that he wanted to sleep, more in the way of tired of fighting to get to sleep.

Shizune stood up and walked towards her own sleeping-bag. 'Well, I don't mind. Just don't do this to often, you really need to rest.'

'If I don't sleep, I still get my rest' He shrugged, making it obvious that he wanted to drop the case. He was a big boy, he knew what was good for him. But he also knew Shizune meant no harm, so he didn't say that out loud.

He walked towards the tree where previously Shizune had been sitting, he sank to the floor with his knees bent up and grabbed his latest icha icha,_ icha icha wonders._

'Maybe that is keeping you awake' Shizune replied while she slipped into her sleeping-bag.

'Huh?'

'You haven't finished it yet, have you?', maybe your mind is so occupied with that novel it doesn't want to rest before you know the end of it.'

'Could be' The copy-nin, not sounding very convinced, shrugged again. Deciding to immediately change the sub, he followed his last words with a 'I'll wake you up when it's time to get up' and a 'good night'. Shizune catched the hint, turned around, murmered a good night and fell a sleep.

God, he hated these days, or nights, mostly nights. He knew the reason of the insomnia and it had nothing to do with his addiction to icha icha. Ever since the damn war ended he was having trouble sleeping, and sometimes when it was really bad, even his legendary ability to 'look underneath the underneath' left him. But until now it was manageable, he got a few hours sleep a day and could keep his mind by the mission most of the time. In his whole life he had more of these small issues, he didn't really worry about them. They would go away.

'Ah!' a small shriek was heard and glanced over his book to see who of his tree companions had made the sound.

A bewildered brown-haired guy was sitting straight up in his sleeping-bag, breathing heavily.

'Just a dream...' He closed his eyes to see if it really was just a dream. 'No, it was just a dream..'

Slowly the man made his way out of the bag and walked towards the tree next to Kakashi. He also dropped down, pulled his knees up, grapped a small lighter out of his chest-pouch and litted the sigaret that was in his other hand.

'Since when do you smoke?' The copy-nin was very suprised, Yamato had always been good for his health, never doing stuff like eating to much ramen or drinking until his memories were forgotten.

'Since war.' Yamato replied dryly.

'Can I have one?'

'You don't smoke'

'You didn't either' The copy-nin replied looking directly at the wood-user.

'Well, war changes people. I've got my smoking and you've got your insomnia, don't try to get my problems also, I believe insomnia is already bad enough.' He shrugged as if he also tried to run from the subject. Apparently there were more people around who didn't want to talk about it.

There passed an uncomfortable silence between the two jounin. The subject was wanted to be left behind by both of them, but they had problems and it was undeniable. Maybe in the future they would be able to talk about it. But not now, it was still to fresh.

'Is it that obvious?' Kakashi replied, eyes back in the book.

'You're constantly taking over our night-shifts, you completely lost focus in your last battle, and in your sleep you're talking and you regularly wake up '

Kakashi's jaw clenched. He hadn't seen that coming. Not wanting to give answer to questions was one thing, but to give answers while he was asleep was a very very bad thing. And to add to Yamato's observation, he really did lose his focus in the last battle. But the position were they had put the enemy was in...it was exactly like..._No, better not get my mind in that direction again, my insomnia is already bad enough. _

'Well, i'm going to try to catch some sleep again. Tomorrow is going to be a long day' Yamato stated as he went back to his bag, leaving the copy-nin pondering with his own thoughts.

* * *

'Naruto nii-channnnnn!'

knock, knock, knock. Pound, pound, pound.

'Go away! I'm trying to sleep!' The orange ninja snarled for underneath his sheets.

'Nah, You promised you would go train with me today!'

'Yeah I indeed promised, but not at 4 pm!' Naruto had lifted his head to check his alarmclock.

'But I've got a mission at 8 and I wanna train!'

'And I wanna sleep!'

It was quiet for a while until there was heard small sobs in the hallway.

'Argh, alright then i'm coming' Now he was awake anyway, although he knew Konohamaru's sobs were all but real tears, he had indeed promised. And he always kept his promises.

'Wait for a minute' He shouted while he pulled on his training clothes.

Not a minute later the orange headed ninja appeared in at the frontdoor to his appartment.

'Arigatou, Naruto-niichan!'' Konohamaru gave him the look of an angel with the underlying meaning of a devil.

'Yeah, yeah, say that when i'm done training you'

A large grin appeared on the boy's face knowing all to well that his idol had not fallen for his sobs, but for his own ninja way to never walk away from his promises.

'Were do you wanna train?'

'Just the training grounds will do' Konohamaru shouted, already happily hopping down the street towards the nearest training grounds.

Arriving at the training grounds, Konohamaru had already pulled his kunai out of his pouch, and Naruto appeared to be busy with his own equipment as well.

'I'm gonna beat your ass!' Konohamaru

Naruto, rising to fighting mode, first let out an exaggerated yawn and then said, 'Are you sure?, because I think I would've noticed by now that someone stole my kunai...'

konohamaru quickly looked back at his hand where his kunai was now replaced by a small wooden piece. 'argh!, that's not fair! We didn't start yet!'

'Always be prepared, Konohamaru-_kun_' Naruto grinned, adding the honorific to show him he was still the older and wiser one.

'Okay, start!' And both boys disappeared into a puff of smoke.

A mere 3 hours later, both boys were exhausted. Which wasn't a good thing, since Konohamaru had still a mission to go in a small hour.

'How about we quite now and take some rest and then i'll walk with you to the hokage building, I need to ask ba-chan something'

'Ok!' Konohamaru dropped down from the tree he was in and went laying straight on his back, he closed his eyes and let himself relax.

After a while Naruto stated that they should get up. Hearing that, Konohamaru's face started to change from a smile to something more gloomy, his once spreaded fingers were now balded to fists and this didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.

'What's wrong?' He asked, a little concerned.

'Everything's ok, nii-chan' Konohamaru's face returned to it's orginal state and his balded fists were left behind. Before Naruto could ask more, he was already on his feet and walking towards the exit.

'Are you coming?' Konohamaru looked behind to see what had stopped the man.

'I thought maybe we could first pay a visit to the memorial before you leave?' Naruto asked, very serious, looking Konohamaru directly in the eye.

Konohamaru's mouth lit into a small appreciative smile. 'Yeah, maybe we should do that'

'When is the last time you went?'

'Uhm, yesterday i guess.'

As male being, for most of them it was hard to talk about their feelings. Especially not with another male. This made it sometimes hard when you had these conversations. They drop dead easily.

'Did there still lay flowers?'

'Lots, i think their family put them there'

'Did you brought some yourself?'

'Yeah, some nice neutral flowers that don't smell, he hated it when things were smelly' A small grin appeared on Konohamaru's face. 'and I gave some yellow flowers to her, she liked yellow'

'That's very nice of you, Konohamaru' Naruto glanced at the boy, he felt a bit proud of him. He was acting that everything was okay, that he had to move on. But this showed that he didn't forgot, or tried to forget them. It pleased Naruto, just like konohamaru it had also been his first experience with war. People had died, people he cared about. But he still had his teammates and senseis to go to. _Maybe that's why he had looked so sad and frustrated when I had stated that it was time to go, he's probably lonely..._

They stopped at the memorial where his flowers were still laying.

Still, this whole conversation had peeked Naruto's curiosity. The last time they had spoken about what happened, Konohamaru had been angry, very angry. What had changed since then?

'Konohamaru, do you forgive him?'

A small silence passed as the wind blew flower petals away.

'To be honest, I don't know' He spoke softly 'I´m not angry anymore, but I still feel a bit betrayed or disappointed or something, i don´t really know´ He shook his head in confusion.

´That´s okay, it´s okay to be confused about it Konohamaru. Only you can decide if you´ll forgive him or not. This is not a simple matter, but i must say that your answer will determine your future. Sometimes it´s best to let things rest.´ Naruto spoke wisely.

When Konohamaru didn´t respond, Naruto politely spoke that they should make there way to the hokage building because it was almost 8 o´clock. Konohamaru nodded and together they walked in an uncomfortable silence towards the centre of the village.

´Hey Naruto!´ a shout was heard from down the street.

´Oh, hi Sakura-chan! Naruto smiled. 'You're not mad at us anymore, right?'

'Of course not, silly' She smiled to them, directing her eyes to Konohamaru who had hid himself behind Naruto to stay away from the last week-fierceful woman. With knowing that she really wasn't mad anymore, he lost his defensive pose and gave her a smile too.

'Pfew, you're really scary when you're mad, you know that right?' Konohamaru grinned.

'Of course I know, kunoichi also need to have weapons, you've got your strong intimidating posture and we girls got our temper, although I do doubt if you guys would get far with you intimidation...'

A grunt was heard from Konohamaru while Sakura was wearing a big smile.

'Nah, that's not true' Naruto contemplated out loud, not even pondering over the last part of her comment. 'Hinata-chan doesn't ever get mad'

'Okay, everyone besides Hinata then.' Sakura admitted.

´Besides you only Tsunada, Shizune, Ino,...uhm...Temari...and Tenten...and Ayame, Kiba´s sis and ma, Shikamaru´s ma, …..got a temper...´

´May I ask you which other girls or women you know?' Sakura grinned, already knowing the answer.

'Uhm...uhh...that...no...uhh...maybe her... no... she also...' Naruto murmered controversial.

'You see?, maybe there even lurks something angry in Hinata too, she just needs to discover it'

'I hope she doesn't, that wouldn't be very nice because every man in Konoha will than be having a frightening woman, or at least all the ninja's. Yeah, maybe it's just the attitude that comes with job!' Naruto grinned happily.

'So you're actually saying three things, one is that Hinata shouldn't be a ninja because she lacks the attitude, and two you say that all ninja's date with ninja's? since when is that common?, and three, what makes that Ayame, for as far as I remember she ain't a ninja' Sakura grinned while she stated this.

'No no that's not what I meant, Hinata-chan is a great ninja, she's strong and kind and she also looks nice!' He blabbered.

'What, Naruto nii-chan, do you like Hinata-chan?' konohamaru's eyes went wide at this statement, he always had thought he felt for Sakura.

'Uhhh, no, that's also not what I meant...' Naruto's head was turning as red as a tomato. To change the sub he added 'And ninja's don't only marry ninja's, but it's very common, look around! every ninja is dating a ninja or married to one., I can't name one that doesn't..'

'I don't believe Guy-sensei is dating someone, and Genma is dating that girl from the bar, I don't believe she's a ninja...and Shizune is still single and Kakashi-sensei...'

But before she could finish that sentence both Naruto and Sakura were rolling on the floor laughing their ass off 'Sensei and a woman!' Yeah, sure!' 'The best joke in human history' Sakura nearly cried.

Konohamaru was a little baffled by their behaviour, he knew Kakashi was absolutely not the most-social man in human history but wasn't this a little exaggerating?

'Is he gay?', Konohamaru asked suspiciously, feeling a little left out.

Naruto and Sakura recovered themselves as Naruto spoke: 'Gay?', I don't really know actually...but i don't think so...he reads Icha Icha and that centers around the straight relationships...'

'Oh and also he blushed when he saw that Toki, the girl from that mission where she was pretending to be her brother instead of a woman, and when she was all dressed up I believe I saw him blush...' Sakura let out a small giggle (A/N: This is referring to Naruto episode 167)

'I think he's just not interested in real relationships, he already busy with those novels of his. He doesn't have time for a lady. But he does have the money...' Sakura admitted stating the fact of what she found out last week.

'Yeah, that's probably it' Naruto agreed. They both nodded in agreement.

Sakura suddenly remembering why she had called out to Naruto in the first place,

'Oh Naruto, I wanted to ask if you know where the key to sensei's apartment is'

Naruto gave her a weird looking face 'Why would YOU need the key to his apartment...?'

'To water his plant baka!, you now I always do that when he's away on missions'

'Oh yeah...I don't really know, after the war we didn't actually speak to each other...'

'Yeah, me neither...'

'Maybe you should try ba-chan?'

'I don't think Kakashi-sensei trusts Tsunade enough to give his key to her...his alchohol stash won't be safe'

'Yeah, probably right, speaking off, I was supposed to meet her...about...right now!' Naruto pulled an horrible face when he remembered the consequence of being late.

'Bye, Sakura-chan!, Bye Konohamaru, good luck on your mission!'

'Bye Naruto-niichan!'

Then a silence passed between the boy and the girl that were left behind.

'Uhh, I need to go too, bye Sakura-chan!'

'Yeah, uhm, right me too, bye Konohamaru'

Now Sakura was left behind as she saw Konohamaru run towards the hokage tower.

_Who should I go too? I really have no idea who his closest friends are...especially after two years of barely seeing him. Where did he leave the spare key again before the war?...Was it his old neighbour? Maybe I should try that._

'Hey, Sakura!, guess what I heard...'

Sakura watched over her shoulder to see who was pulling her out of her thoughts, and all she saw was a blond pig running towards her.

_It seems Mr. Ukki has to wait._

_

* * *

_

A good 7 hours later Sakura was making her way to the apartment complex were her sensei lived.

It was a small complex with 8 houses. The complex was bended at an U-form, with in the middle a beautiful garden with a pond. Her sensei lived on the first floor. You just needed to walk up the stairs (which was at the end of the U-form) and his appartment was at your left, first door. The second door belonged to his neighbour, Sakura only new her front name, which was 'Ran', Kakashi had once mentioned it when he asked her to take care of his precious pot plant.

She carefully knocked the worn out and old door, she was scared that if she knocked too hard, there was a possibilty she would break it.

No reply.

'Ms Ran?, are you home?' She called through the door.

And small rumble on the other side was heard, as someone opened the door. Sakura was looking straight ahead into the not so lighted room, wondering how the heck a door could open itself.

'Miss?'

A small voice was heard from the small opening in the door. Sakura looked down to see the were the voice had come from.

A petite girl with brown hair that reached her shoulders, wearing a hairband with a white flower on it, smiled at her, waiting for her answer.

'uhh...are you Ran?' Sakura smiled politey back to the overly happy girl.

'Yuki!, my name is yuki!' She replied happily

'Yuki, I told you not to open the door on yourself..., who is it?'

'Ummmm, i don't know. It's a girl, she's got pink hair, it's quite funny' She smiled when she said it, Sakura didn't feel she had said it to mock with her, but she couldn't feel happy about it either...

'I don't know anyone with pink hair, Yuki, are you sure?, I don't believe there are people with pink hair...' The voice was getting closer.

Sakura's eyes glared into the room, she couldn't help but to feel a bit discriminated by they remark. She always believed pink hair wasn't such a bad haircolor, for a girl. If you were a boy that alters the case.

At the door appeared a tiny old, very old, woman.

'Well, hello...indeed pink hair...' she murmered while continuing 'What can I do for you, darling?'

'Uhm, I came to ask if you had the spare key to Mr. Hatake's appartment..' She didn't know if they woman was on first name basis with her sensei so she decided to play it safe.

'Mr. Hatake...? , o yeah, you mean Kakashi-kun,' They small girl looked at the old woman questionable, 'that's the sweety pie from next door, yuki' she replied.

Sakura inwardly giggled at the nickname, _hell, i won't let him forget that! _and her mind started to make evil plans on how to blackmail the 'sweety pie', while she was leaded inside the house.

The house was not big, just like Kakashi's, it was cosy and she was surrounded by the smell of soup and the smell she didn't really have a name for, it just always smelled that way when you were around old people.

'You must be Sakura then, right?'

'Uhh. yes' She gave her a wondering look

'Kakashi mentioned once about his team, a loud-mouthed blond kid, a silent black haired kid and a typical girl, pink hair. First off who else with pink hair could be asking for his keys?' 'And two, you look like your a ninja. You look mentally and psychically strong.'

Sakura gave her an apprectiave smile as reponse, she was flattered to be called mentally and psychically strong at first sight, but what was so weird about pink hair? There were tons of people with pink hair...at least the members of the haruno family had pink hair...

'Yuki, could you give the girl some tea?' Yuki nodded in return and hopped to the kitchen. Ran turned to give her attention to the medic again.

'I'm sorry darling, i know i have the key around here somewhere but i've got no clue were I put them, it's has been a while..You could wait in the living room while i look for them.'

'Okay, thank you very much' She left the granny in the hallway, while she followed the girl to the kitchen.

'Here is your tea miss' The girl put the tea on the table and Sakura sat down on one of the two chairs. She looked at the girl which was walking back to the kitchen. She looked like someone of 5 or 6, but the fact that she could make tea on her own and her intelligence when she spoke made her wonder about her age.

'So, if you're one of Kakashi's students...' Ran continued 'How comes i've never met you before?'

Sakura first wondered why they question was asked to her, and not her sensei himself. But she knew how conservative Kakashi was when it came to personal matters. He probably had a reason for it.

'To be honest, I don't come here often, only to water and feed his plant while he's away. He never invites us or anything, we don't really know much about his private life either. Sometimes we wonder if he even has one, he's always working, but well, that's the life of a ninja' The last part she added because she didn't want to sound like a lazy nin, but she did meant it. Kakashi did overwork himself.

'So you also have no idea what happens at night in his apartment? the sound always wakes me up...'

Sakura was in shock, _knew...anything about his apartment...at night...Kakashi...at night...in his apartment...Kakashi's sleeping at night...what should I know about that...? Kakashi is sleeping in a bed in his apartment at night...Kakashi in a bed...happens at night...sound...Oh. In Kakashi's bed, at night time strange sounds can be- _She cutted that thought of. This was really not anything she wanted to know. What her sensei did in private was his business, definitely not hers._._

Apparently the shock on Sakura's face hadn't disappeared because the woman quickly shook her head. 'No, no...I didn't mean it like that!' realizing her own mistake by the underlying meaning of that sentence.

'Sometimes I hear screams, but not those..,' she quickly added 'more pained screams, and sometimes I hear things break and banged against the wall...

Sakura's mind was on rapid speed now, but not in the way that the old woman meant. Screams, bangs, and breaks could also mean that Kakashi had a very …._eccentric_...way of...doing things.

Ran looked back at Sakura, checking if she understood. Unfortunately the medic still wasn't convinced.

'If you really want to know, he never went in with anyone this week if i'm correct.'

Okay. That changed it. You don't do these extreme things alone, at least not that Sakura knew. And that didn't mean she wanted to know either. After years and years of spending time around boys, and the half part of them had a mind of 24/7, it was logically that her mind was also a perverted one.

'So, what do you think it is?' Sakura asked her, instead of Ran asking her.

'I don't know, maybe something is bothering him?' She said concerned.

'If it really is that way, than it must be something rather bad considering the screaming, banging and breaking.' Sakura added, sarcastically, not really believing it. Her sensei was an emotional strong man, he wouldn't lose himself like that.

'You know, you were in a war not quite so long time ago.' Ran replied seriously. 'You people always make it seem like it is nothing...'

Sakura didn't knew what she disliked more, the fact that she was bringing up the war, the fact that she suddenly realized she had no clue what had happened to her friends in the war or the fact that she adressed them as 'you people'. She only knew one thing, she didn't like to talk about the war.

Sakura decided to take a sip of her tea, not knowing how to reply.

The girl had also taken a seat and was busy studying a sudoku puzzle. _Okay,maybe she's 8 or 9._ Sakura really didn't knew anymore. She definitely not looked like someone of 8 or 9. After a few minutes the girl grabbed her pen and slowly started to fill in all the numbers. Not one second rethinking about her choice, when she written one down, the next came immediately after that. In less than a minute she filled in the whole puzzle and started on the one that was on the next page.

'Ah, found it!' Ran came back to the living room with a small silver key in her hand. 'I believe it is this one'

'Oh, Yuki did you...oh! you already finished page 50?', that was fast!' 'You keep getting better and better' Ran praised her, while she patted her hair. The girl looked up to face the old lady and gave a huge grin spread across her face.

'Yuki is getting ready for the sudoku puzzle championship on the academy' Ran said proudly.

'Oh, wow, that's impressive, in which class are you? Sakura truthfully was impressed. Most championships on the academy were hold for people who were in graduating year. Hopefully she would also get some enlightenment about her age.

'Graduation year!' She happily smiled to her.

'But...' Second shock that day for Sakura, she felt downright dumb. She was twelve when she graduated from the academy, and this girl...inwardly it was humiliating, she knew these kids existed. Her sensei had been one of them, since she heard tsunade saying that he graduated academy when he was five. And you had Sasuke's older brother Itachi, he graduated at the age of 7 and there were a few more that were from that age.

'Yuki has been gifted with a very strategically mind, her IQ is around 141, she did the academy in than 2 years.' Ran explained.

'Jeez..., Sakura was amazed..._.she's only 6 years old._

Ran turned to Yuki again,

'Darling, before I forget, could you go get the newspaper from Mr. Shun, you know the nice mister that lives on number 17?'

'Ok', She putted her shoes on and skipped to the frontdoor and disappeared behind it.

'She is such a sweet girl' Ran sat down on the chair where Yuki had previously sat. 'So gifted, just like her parents were'

Sakura felt a bit awkward. She only wanted to water Mr. Ukki. And now she was sitting here with an old lady, sipping tea, next to Kakashi's appartment, and she was about to have an emotional conversation. That almost always happened when old people started to use past tenses.

'You see...

_and here it comes..._

'I never had children, Yuki is not my granddaughter, if that was what you were thinking. She is from the hidden mist village, just like her parents. Her mother died after birth and her father died last year during the war.'

'She lives with me for time being, I'm really proud of her, she is taking it so well'

Sakura was about to ask her how Yuki had ended up with her when Ran said 'Oh, look at the time!, I've kept you hear for almost an hour!, i'm so sorry darling!, I wish we could chat longer but I need to get dinner ready for 5, otherwise I'm going to miss my knitting-club.'

First thing that went to Sakura's mind was: _Knitting-club? you got to be kidding me..., these things still exist, she really is the perfect granny figure... hopefully when I am that old I won't be bound to needles and wool. _

But after her inside thoughts, she got the hint. She raised from her chair,

'Thank you, Ran-san,' She bowed a little to show her some respect. 'I'll leave now, It's about time I go anyway, Mr. Ukki will die otherwise' She grinned at the woman.

Ran grinned, in a granny-way, back to her, 'and we don't want that to happen, right? Kakashi might not be so pleased if he finds out.'

For some reason Sakura and the granny both understood that Mr. Ukki was something different to Kakashi, they didn't know why but the plant was one of few things the copy-nin had a bond with, how far that was possible when you're talking about a plant.

Sakura walked to the frontdoor saying 'Say bye to Yuki from me, ok?'

'Ok, I will. Come around again, it is nice for this old lady to get some company once in a while.' She said before closing the front door.

_Well...she didn't mince matters. Now I feel obliged to visit her once in a while. O, damn me and my sentimental brains_

She was now standing before Kakashi's door and pushed it in the lock. The door opened with a click and she found herself looking into a very dark appartment. Kakashi's appartment had only 3 rooms, the living/kitchen, his bedroom and his bathroom. Sakura went into the place to look for the light switch.

_Yeez, he's going away on a mission and he keeps his curtains closed? that's just gross...It already smelled musty. Not only that but doesn't the guy has some light switches around her...ARGH!_

With a loud tap she fell onto the ground, she had tripped over something quite hard. 'Kuso!' She cursed. The pain in her leg already faded away, she just shouted out of frustration.

Stumbling up, her hands reached the wall and found the light switch. With a click, the lights went on.

Sakura's eyes went wide open at the sight,

.

.

.

'_What the...?'_

_

* * *

_A/N Ok added some drama in here :) But we al want drama, don't we?

Drama is necesary to create a story, in my eyes expecially lovestories,

but don't worry this won't be your cliché filled story with then kakashi is hurt and then sakura is hurt, i've read to many kakasaku fanfics for those actions. But I can't guarantee you that there will be no cliché's, sometimes they are necessary XD I'm not making any sense, am I?

Why konohamaru? Because he's cool.

Reviews are nice, improve points also :D :D :D

In the next chapt: What does Sakura find in the room? How did Kakashi's mission end? What did Naruto asked Tsunade? and...What did Ino tell Sakura?

I'll try to have it by next sunday, but I don't promiss anything. Unlike Naruto, I suck at keeping promisses :) and I've got this problem called school...

and...The chapter title, what do you think? :) any clues to what it means?


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